Ocean Beach Sex Crimes Prompt Frustration at Meeting

A crowd of over 60 people — many angry and emotional — made up the audience at the Ocean Beach Town Council Meeting on September 26. Most of the people were there to discuss the recent spate of crimes against women in Ocean Beach.

San Diego police officers Dave Surwillo and Lt. Natalie Stone had to defend the police's actions as women accused the police of not doing enough to catch sex-crime perpetrators in the community.

A woman stated she now takes a taxi to go four blocks because she is too scared to walk alone. A different woman claimed there was another attack last night, which, according to many there, puts the number of crimes at seven in the past couple of months.

The police officers claimed there have been seven cases of a peeping tom in the community, but said there have been three sexually motivated attacks in the past couple months, the peeping tom being one of them; but several people said many of the crimes are not being reported.

The officers stated that no one has been caught yet in any case, and only one description and some DNA evidence has come in regarding the peeping tom. Police encouraged people to go online and report an assault or any crime without hesitation, and they said they are being as diligent as possible.

A young man who said he put up posters around O.B. regarding one of the sexual attacks claimed to be the brother of one of the assault victims. He said his sister refuses to talk to police because she does not like the way the case is being handled. He said that he is doing everything he can to catch the guy and will take care of the situation himself if he does find the attacker, regardless of what kind of trouble that might get him in. As he spoke, many women in the crowd cheered.

A woman got up and tearfully spoke of the assault against her (with little detail), but wanted the crowd to know that even though she knows the police are working on it, not enough is being done. She also said too many people are being passive and not reporting many of the crimes.

Many people got up and blamed the homeless and wondered why the police have a policy of just telling them to "move along." The police stated that they have more officers out there than everyone thinks — on foot, on bikes, and in plainclothes.

It is my personal belief that since Ocean Beach is considered to be such a laid back and tolerant community, that some disturbed individuals might take that to also mean that the women folk will sit back and not harsh at being harassed, peeped at or sexually violated.

That does not necessarily mean the homeless are behind these recent misogynistic assaults; it could just as easily be horny outsiders or Newport Ave drunken bar patrons. The ladies of Ocean Beach need to take a stand against this B.S. and call it out. The meeting that Mercy covered is a good first step on that journey. Men of Ocean Beach: please stand with the females and keep our safety and security needs in mind so we can get our little beach town back to being the idyllic community it was meant to be.

Ocean Beach is just a drive by for commercial airlines and the San Diego police.

Baghdad car patrol.

The cops don't even stop to eat in OB. Coffee and donuts while steering and peering at the freaks. "Taxi driver" in black and whites.. No visual police street presents in OB, except, perhaps presents for that same group of “taxi drivers" constantly congregating outside two local stores laden with bottled beer and liquor for sale.

The OB library always has more people working behind the counter then public available 1hr computers.

Two bus lines the #35 and

923 with brake happy chauffeurs tram
the noisy sailors, reading students, silent workers, seniors with their bus pass hanging around their neck and smelly circus freaks in and out of town.

The corner of Cable and Newport Ave looks like the greyhounded public transit center of OB.

Peoples market is the spiritual center of OB. The juice there is a $1 cup of organic COFFEE made with filtered water, sweetened with amber avocado honey and chalky soymilk.

The pier is the wild habitat center of OB. Pelicans perching on the railings for discarded fish heads, whales and dolphins for sightings and the surfers tubing through the pier’s concrete pilings for danger.

There are more liquor stores owned by Arabs in Ocean Beach then African Americans.

The lone New York Jewish woman rides her 1958 bike with big tires around town, the fenders rattle.

The gentile women have trucks or SUVs, arms tattooed from wrist to shoulder, wear flip-flops, wool caps and totes big dogs on chains. If as you kneel and pet; the dog sniffs and likes you, well the gentile ladies pick out and buy themselves flowers at OB's farmer market every Wednesday.

The gods blessed Ocean Beach with good air quality, a Mediterranean climate, a wicked riptide and no senior center.

The beach has more trash left on it then any in the states. If the Surfrider’s foundation didn't volunteer to clean up the beach the morning after July 4th Ocean Beach would be closed. Yet, millions are spent by the city on earthmovers shifting piles of seaweed and sand around the beach. Disrupting the morning calm while eschewing the trash bobbing on the edge of our world.

Ocean beach has one street (Newport Ave) with bars, big hamburgers, Mexican food and that street leads to the entrance to the wino’s hood: the beach, the fire pits, the pier, the public bathrooms and the cliffs. .

and Ocean Beach has one street (Sunset Cliffs) with all its’ community active churches feeding the forgotten and that street leads one out of town.